Monday, October 14, 2013

On September 20, of recent memory, late that Friday
afternoon, I suffered a medical emergency involving a good deal of blood that
got out of place-- with considerable distress. I felt I needed medical
attention at once and so began calling the appropriate physicians, hoping to
talk to a “doctor on call”.

What I got was a collapse of the telephone
service that is supposed to treat between patient and physician at off hours. I
could get through to no one.

I considered 911; instead, Betty drove me to the
relatively close ER, where they slammed me into the hospital for three days.

And so, on behalf of all of us who perhaps have lived
too long and must rely on the use of the telephone in our daily lives, and who,
like me, daily encounter the careless, incomprehensible, responses of
professional, commercial, public exchanges by telephone,